1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet-metal processing method for performing, for example, cutting, bending, drawing, welding and modifying of a sheet metal and to an apparatus therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional sheet-metal processing, cutting of a simple contour is performed by a sheet metal cutter which cuts a straight line, while a complicated contour is cut by a turret punch press, or by making special dies for that purpose or by grinding using a machine. Bending of a metal sheet is performed by a sheet metal bender using various standard dies or making special dies. Drawing of the metal sheet is performed by means of a press with a drawing machine which uses special dies. Welding of the sheet metal is performed by a sheet metal welder operated by a human or by a robot. Modification of the sheet metal material such as heat treatment is rarely performed except for special uses.
Since the special dies are used in conventional cutting, bending and drawing of a complicated shape on a metal sheet, there is a problem in that the degree of freedom in the worked shape is low. Further, aggregating of some or the whole of a series of working steps of the sheet metal into a single apparatus is almost equivalent to simply connecting a plurality of apparatus, where, though process time reduction or automatization may be realized to some extent, the advantage resulting from reductions, for example, costs and the required space of the system as a whole is limited. In other words, there is a problem in that it is difficult to achieve a sheet-metal processing apparatus capable of various types of sheet-metal processing, with relatively lower costs and smaller size.